Context :

Ø PM Modi makes global health pitch at G7 / HT / 13 June 2021

Extract :

Ø Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the G7 states to adopt a united approach to the coronavirus pandemic and future health emergencies with the mantra of “ One earth, one health ”

Ø He pointed to the special responsibility of democratic and transparent societies to prevent future pandemics, and said there should be “ One earth, One health ” approach.

Ø Modi highlighted India’s approach to counter the pandemic that synergized efforts of government, industry and civil society. He said India is willing to share its expertise with others.

Dear Shri Narendrabhai,

You are so right. Planet earth is a ship in the ocean of Universe. If there is a hole in the ship ( eg : current Covid pandemic ), then everyone goes down when the ship sinks !

I hope, this message of yours ( One Earth : One Health ) gets accepted by ALL the nations ( especially, comparatively less affected RICH nations ) and succeeds in uniting all to jointly fight current pandemic and devise “ways and means “ to prevent future pandemics or at least better prepare everyone to lessen their impacts ( if these cannot be prevented )

Whereas there is no doubt that India can share its “ EXPERTISE “ ( in fighting Covid ) with other nations, I urge you to consider my following suggestion:

Ø We still have a long way to go before our entire population gets

vaccinated with 2 dozes

Ø So far, millions of poor people have not managed to get even their first

doze

Ø Shortage of vaccines, is only a “partial answer “ for this uneven

distribution

Ø The more likely reasons are :

# Lack of awareness among non-tech-savvy millions re; the importance of

getting vaccinated

# Difficulty in use of CoWin portal for registration ( I had to do this for my

part-time domestic helps )

Ø Millions of poor / illiterate / rural people are unlikely to overcome anytime

soon, the constraints imposed by this “ Digital Divide “

Ø On the other hand, as many as 210 million households have TV

installations (although not all are smart TVs ). This translates into some

900 million persons viewing TV every day ( more hours during current

pandemic )

Ø Let Central Government launch a TV Channel exclusively dedicated to

Covid ( of course FREE and obligatory for inclusion in any bouquet offered

by ALL TV service provider ( DTH – Cable ) and by all OTT platforms

Ø This channel may be named “ DaroNa “

Ø It will have following sections :

# How to register on CoWin ( step by step instructions / in all regional

languages – depending upon viewers )

# Statewise / Districtwise , list of all Vaccine Delivery Centres ( Govt owned

or Private ) , with full contact details of each

# Earliest SLOT AVAILABILITY at each of these VDC

# Live phone-in Covid related questions to be answered by Expert Doctors /

Task Force members

# State-wise / District-wise Covid related STATISTICS ( easy to grasp

graphs ) . Full transparency

This will be Version 1.0 of “ DaroNa “ , to be launched by Sept 2021

By Dec 2022, we should launch “ DaroNa “ V 2.0

It will be INTERACTIVE CHANNEL version, which would enable viewers to,

# Register on CoWin portal from that Channel ( every member of the

household having TV )

# Get “ Notifications “ re SLOTS allotted ( Date and the VDC )

# Just by speaking to the TV , record their entire Health History /

Medical Records ( not at one go but over a period of time – at any time )

Each member of the household will be able to record his / her

history. For toddlers / children / invalid old family members, other

members of the family would do such talking

TV will morph into a sympathetic LISTENING ROBOT , which will even “

prod “ answers by asking health related questions !

If in doubt, look up Sophia

A web camera mounted on TV ( or built into Set-Top Box / Remote ) will

recognize ( face recognition ) which member of the family is talking (

Voice recognition as well )

But it will have built-in features which will disable / prevent surveillance

like THIRD EYE

Broadly these features would comprise :

· Using both hands ( thumbs ), simultaneous pressing of START ( Green ) buttons on both, the Set-top Box AND the Remote . Only then, TV’s Facial Recognition and Voice Recognition systems will get activated and a “ READY TO LISTEN “ text message will flash on the screen

· Only upon seeing such message, family member will ( without removing his thumbs ), speak aloud , “ DaroNa , Meri baat soono “ . Message will flash, “ I am listening – main soontaa hoon “

· Recorded conversation ( unstructured data ) will NOT get transmitted to the server of the National Clinical Registry, until the concerned family member re-plays entire dialogue , gets satisfied and then , on Remote press a button which reads “ TRANSMIT “

In another 2 / 3 years, all medical devices ( and most likely, all popular Home appliances ) , will have all kinds of sensors embedded into them, which are internet-connected ( IoT )

Now imagine dynamic / automatic, DATA CAPTURE of entire Health Eco-System consisting of :

# Digital Delivery of Drugs

# Thousands of illnesses / Doctors’ Prescriptions / Medicines purchased –

consumed

# Millions of Medical procedures carried out with millions of IoT-connected

instruments

# Millions of pathology / diagnostic test results ( TV scanning X-Ray plates

/ ECGs – EEGs – PET etc )

# Demographic data of 1.4 BILLION Indian Citizen ( Sex-Age-Address-

Religion-Employment etc )

Can my concept of an Interactive TV Channel be extended to address some other equally urgent / important, national problems ?

I think so . These could be :

Ø Diksha ( for online learning )

Ø Karma ( for work from home )

Ø Kaushlya ( for AR / VR based Skilling / Training )

QUESTION :

How can 210 million TV households afford the cost of such TV Channels ( made Interactive using souped-up Set Top Box / Remote ) incorporating emerging technologies listed below ?

ANSWER :

These channels will also enable those TV owners to SELL their private / personal data ( of course, anonymized and aggregated ) as conceptualized at :

Digital Dividend from Demographic Data [ 4 D ]…………………..... [ 14 Feb 2019 ]